Saturday, July 16, 2011


The usual expression is "put something on the back burner". Most gas stoves in our country have two burners. In the U.S., most stoves have four burners — two in the front, and two in the back. I understand dishes are normally put on the back burner when they don't require the cook's immediate attention. So, when you say that you are putting something on the back burner, what you mean is that you are postponing doing it. You are putting the work aside because it doesn't require your immediate attention. Here are a few examples.

*Right now I am busy getting the plans for the house ready. I am afraid I'll have to put my tennis lessons on the back burner.

*Rohini has decided to put everything on the back burner till the end of the semester.

*Bush's plans for invading Syria have been put on the back burner.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011










You must not be led aside by fits of disinclination or annoyance; if you give way to these you will never succeed. Patience and perseverance win the day. "Softly, softly, catchee monkey."




Managers, Teachers, Parents, Users, Stakeholders and other Authority Figures seem to want it done right, done immediately, and never done again (DoItRightTheFirstTime). Of course you can't deliver on such expectations, and in fact most of these Authorities are just your own boojums - the real people behind them know that good work takes time. They're putting pressure on you because they want your best, not because they expect a miracle.

Now sometimes what these folk want is really not difficult to do. You know how to get from A to B, you get into that Mental-State Called Flow, and you do it. But sometimes you haven't got the faintest, or you're damn certain what they're asking for isn't a realistic expectation, or it isn't the right thing at the right time.

Therefore,

Don't meet the insurmountable problem head on, but move slowly, deliberately, compassionately, to surround it. You don't catch your monkey by running into the jungle and trying to flush it out. Monkeys move faster in a jungle than you, and they can always climb and hide.

Step back. Get lazy. Ignore deadlines. Think. Research. Wander. Let the back-burners do some work. Panicking and rushing isn't going to solve a hard problem. Perhaps you're not doing the right thing at the right time. Perhaps there's some other way to balance the forces, or some forces you're neglecting. You won't find the solution by looking for it; it has to find you. Let it.

If you enter the jungle with due pace and caution, but with no idea in your head about catching a monkey, they won't see you as a predator coming. You just mind your business until you see a monkey. They'll be paying you no attention. Then calmly and deliberately notch your arrow and catch your dinner.

Following is a list of all the available HTTP 1.1 status codes, along with their associated message and interpretation. You should be cautious in using the status codes that are available only in HTTP 1.1, since many browsers still only support HTTP 1.0. If you do use status codes specific to HTTP 1.1, in most cases you want to either explicitly check the HTTP version of the request (via the getProtocol method of the HttpServletRequest) or reserve it for situations when no HTTP 1.0 status code would be particularly meaningful to the client anyhow.

Status Code Associated Message Meaning
100 Continue Continue with partial request. (New in HTTP 1.1)
101 Switching Protocols Server will comply with Upgrade header and
change to different protocol. (New in HTTP 1.1)
200 OK Everything's fine; document follows for GET and
POST requests. This is the default for servlets; if you
don't use setStatus, you'll get this.
201 Created Server created a document; the Location header
indicates its URL.
202 Accepted Request is being acted upon, but processing is not
completed.
203 Non-Authoritative Information Document is being returned normally, but some of the
response headers might be incorrect since a document copy is being
used. (New in HTTP 1.1)
204 No Content No new document; browser should continue to display previous
document. This is a useful if the user periodically reloads a page
and you can determine that the previous page is already up to date.
However, this does not work for pages that are automatically
reloaded via the Refresh response header or the equivalent <META
HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" ...>
header, since returning this status
code stops future reloading. JavaScript-based automatic reloading
could still work in such a case, though.
205 Reset Content No new document, but browser should reset document view.
Used to force browser to clear CGI form fields. (New in HTTP 1.1)
206 Partial Content Client sent a partial request with a Range
header, and server has fulfilled it. (New in HTTP 1.1)
300 Multiple Choices Document requested can be found several places; they'll be
listed in the returned document. If server has a preferred choice,
it should be listed in the Location response header.
301 Moved Permanently Requested document is elsewhere, and the URL for it is given
in the Location response header. Browsers should
automatically follow the link to the new URL.
302 Found Similar to 301, except that the new URL should be
interpreted as a temporary replacement, not a permanent one. Note:
the message was "Moved Temporarily" in HTTP 1.0, and the constant in
HttpServletResponse is SC_MOVED_TEMPORARILY,
not SC_FOUND.Very useful header, since browsers
automatically follow the link to the new URL. This status code is
so useful that there is a special method for it, sendRedirect.

Using response. sendRedirect(url) has a couple of
advantages over doing response. setStatus
(response.SC_MOVED_TEMPORARILY)
and response.
setHeader("Location", url)
. First, it is easier. Second, with sendRedirect,
the servlet automatically builds a page containing the link (to show
to older browsers that don't automatically follow redirects).
Finally,
sendRedirect
can handle relative URLs, automatically translating them to
absolute ones.


Note that this status code is sometimes used interchangeably with
301. For example, if you erroneously ask for
http://host/~user
(missing the trailing slash), some servers will send 301 and others
will send 302.

Technically, browsers are only supposed to automatically follow the redirection if the original request was GET.

See the 307 header for details.

303 See Other Like 301/302, except that if the original request was POST,
the redirected document (given in the Location header)
should be retrieved via GET. (New in HTTP 1.1)
304 Not Modified Client has a cached document and performed a conditional
request (usually by supplying an If-Modified-Since
header indicating that it only wants documents newer than a
specified date). Server wants to tell client that the old, cached
document should still be used.
305 Use Proxy Requested document should be retrieved via proxy listed in Location
header. (New in HTTP 1.1)
307 Temporary Redirect This is identical to 302 ("Found" or "Temporarily Moved").
It was added to HTTP 1.1 since many browsers erroneously followed
the redirection on a 302 response even if the original message was a
POST, even though it really ought to have followed the
redirection of a POST request only on a 303 response.
This response is intended to be unambigously clear: follow
redirected GET and POST requests in
the case of 303 responses, only follow the redirection for GET

requests in the case of 307 responses. Note: for some reason there
is no constant in HttpServletResponse corresponding to
this status code. (New in HTTP 1.1)
400 Bad Request Bad syntax in the request.
401 Unauthorized Client tried to access password-protected page without
proper authorization. Response should include a WWW-Authenticate
header that the browser would use to pop up a username/password
dialog box, which then comes back via the Authorization
header.
403 Forbidden Resource is not available, regardless of authorization.
Often the result of bad file or directory permissions on the server.
404 Not Found No resource could be found at that address. This is the
standard "no such page" response. This is such a common and
useful response that there is a special method for it in HttpServletResponse:
sendError(message).
The advantage of sendError
over setStatus is that, with sendError,
the server automatically generates an error page showing the error
message.
405 Method Not Allowed The request method (GET, POST, HEAD,
DELETE, PUT, TRACE, etc.) was
not allowed for this particular resource. (New in HTTP 1.1)
406 Not Acceptable Resource indicated generates a MIME type incompatible with
that specified by the client via its Accept header.
(New in HTTP 1.1)
407 Proxy Authentication Required Similar to 401, but proxy server must return a Proxy-Authenticate
header. (New in HTTP 1.1)
408 Request Timeout The client took too long to send the request. (New in HTTP
1.1)
409 Conflict Usually associated with PUT requests; used for
situations such as trying to upload an incorrect version of a file.
(New in HTTP 1.1)
410 Gone Document is gone; no forwarding address known. Differs from
404 in that the document is is known to be permanently gone in this
case, not just unavailable for unknown reasons as with 404. (New in
HTTP 1.1)
411 Length Required Server cannot process request unless client sends a Content-Length
header. (New in HTTP 1.1)
412 Precondition Failed Some precondition specified in the request headers was
false. (New in HTTP 1.1)
413 Request Entity Too Large The requested document is bigger than the server wants to
handle now. If the server thinks it can handle it later, it should
include a Retry-After header. (New in HTTP 1.1)
414 Request URI Too Long The URI is too long. (New in HTTP 1.1)
415 Unsupported Media Type Request is in an unknown format. (New in HTTP 1.1)
416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable Client included an unsatisfiable Range header
in request. (New in HTTP 1.1)
417 Expectation Failed Value in the Expect request header could not be
met. (New in HTTP 1.1)
500 Internal Server Error Generic "server is confused" message. It is often the result
of CGI programs or (heaven forbid!) servlets that crash or return
improperly formatted headers.
501 Not Implemented Server doesn't support functionality to fulfill request.
Used, for example, when client issues command like PUT
that server doesn't support.
502 Bad Gateway Used by servers that act as proxies or gateways; indicates
that initial server got a bad response from the remote server.
503 Service Unavailable Server cannot respond due to maintenance or overloading. For
example, a servlet might return this header if some thread or
database connection pool is currently full. Server can supply a Retry-After
header.
504 Gateway Timeout Used by servers that act as proxies or gateways; indicates
that initial server didn't get a response from the remote server in
time. (New in HTTP 1.1)
505 HTTP Version Not Supported Server doesn't support version of HTTP indicated in request
line. (New in HTTP 1.1)

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Grocery List

Wow!

Motivation



Internal motivation comes from within, such as pride, a sense of achievement, responsibility and belief.


There was a young boy who used to come for regular practice but always played in the reserves and never made it to the soccer eleven. While he was practicing, his father used to sit at the far end, waiting for him.

The matches had started and for four days, he didn't show up for practice or the quarter or semifinals.

All of a sudden he showed up for the finals, went to the coach and said, "Coach, you have always kept me in the reserves and never let me play in the finals. But today, please let me play."

The coach said, "Son, I'm sorry, I can't let you. There are better players than you and besides, it is the finals, the reputation of the school is at stake and I cannot take a chance." The boy pleaded, "Coach, I promise I will not let you down. I beg of you, please let me play."

The coach had never seen the boy plead like this before. He said, "OK, son, go, play. But remember, I am going against my better judgment and the reputation of the school is at stake. Don't let me down." The game started and the boy played like a house on fire. Every time he got the ball, he shot a goal. Needless to say, he was the best player and the star of the game. His team had a spectacular win.

When the game finished, the coach went up to him and said, "Son, how could I have been so wrong in my life. I have never seen you play like this before. What happened? How did you play so well?"

The boy replied, "Coach, my father is watching me today." The coach turned around and looked at the place where the boy's father used to sit. There was no one there.

He said, "Son, your father used to sit there when you came for practice, but I don't see anyone there today."

The boy replied, "Coach, there is something I never told you. My father was blind. Just four days ago, he died. Today is the first day he is watching me from above."

Monday, July 11, 2011

Car Puzzle

This is an interesting car puzzle. All you have to do is take the car out of this maze!

Sunday, July 10, 2011



A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track.


The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make...

Scroll down

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens.. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

'Remember that what's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't always right.'

Everybody makes mistakes; that's why they put erasers on pencils.